WA minimum wage hike hurting small businesses

Washington has the highest minimum wage in the country and starting next week it's going up again.

Starting Jan. 1 workers in Washington will be paid $9.19 an hour, and some local business owners are saying the higher minimum wage is stealing job opportunities.

Oliver Jones, the owner of MOJO Reprographics, a small digital printing business in Spokane, has poured endless hours into his business for over seven years. It's up to him and one other part time employee to handle everything.

He would love to hire more people, but with a higher minimum wage he says it's simply just not affordable.

"I would love to have some young guy come down, give me a hand who can learn this industry, build skills at a rate that I can afford," Jones said.

The Washington state minimum wage is set to go up to $9.19 in January. It means stagnation for this small business.

"We don't have a chance to negotiate for a wage less than 9.19. That's just not something I can afford," he said.

Sidney Harmon, a server at The Onion, is seeing her base pay rise by 15 cents an hour, but she's also watching the cost of everything else go up with it.